Mick wondered how much longer he could be able to keep this up. His fatigue was beginning to overtake him and he could tell that the Moss giant was only beginning to tap its reserves of strength. Furthermore, the two clubs that the giant had gave it an advantage that Mick wouldn't be able to match. His shield might provide protection – but it wouldn't shield him from every blow. He knew that he would not be able to win this battle. His defeat was inevitable but he would make the Moss giant work hard for its victory.
Deciding to surprise his opponent, Mick suddenly charged the Moss giant, focusing as much of his energy as he could into the attack. He picked up his scimitar as he ran past and slashed at the Moss giant's stomach. To his surprise, this time his rune blade merely bounced off its target and he was rewarded instead with another crushing blow from the Moss giant's club. The blow sent Mick staggering back into the wall where he slumped to the ground – dropping his scimitar in defeat. He was exhausted. His fatigue had over-taken him at last and the numerous injuries that he had sustained during the battle while not fatal had weakened him severely.
He gave one last glance towards his two companions and was glad to see that they still appeared to be at full strength and were combating the Moss giants. They were not winning but at least they were not losing the battle either. He felt a small smile creep up and attach itself to his face as the Moss giant raised its club for the killing blow. He could see the look of triumph in its eyes and something else… a red glint. He wondered exactly what that red glint was. Could it be the red wisp that was controlling him?
In a last desperate attempt, Mick picked up his scimitar again and took careful aim before launching it at the Moss giant's eyes. The giant was caught off-guard by this sudden movement and watched in horror as the rune blade headed straight for its eyes. It attempted to move its clubs to block the blow but the attack had been too fast. The scimitar cut right through the Moss giant's head, causing an explosion of green blood. The lumbering giant crashed to the ground with a shocked look on its face and spurting out green blood all over the place.
Mick breathed a sigh of relief as the Moss giant collapsed to the ground. He watched intently as the same red wisp that he had seen before disappeared into the air. He dusted himself off and walked over to where the last Moss giant had fallen. He quickly pulled out his scimitar and looked at the blue blade that was now bathed in green blood. Mick looked up to see how his two companions were doing. They were still fighting the Moss giants.
He began to head over towards his companions when he noticed that the hostages were still bound. Which should he do first? Free the hostages and complete the mission as quickly as possible or help his companions before freeing the hostages? He took a deep breath and walked over to the last two remaining Moss giants. His loyalty was to his friends first – he was not willing to leave them behind.
Glenn parried the Moss giant's terrible blow and lashed out with his scimitar, taking out a small chunk of the giant's club. He had been fighting this Moss giant for what seemed to be an eternity and no matter what he did he did not seem to be able to harm the Moss giant. No matter where he had struck the giant – legs, chest, arms or head he had been unable to make the giant sustain any injury. Fortunately however, he also had managed to remain unscathed. Out of the corner of his eye he had seen Mick fighting the Moss giants and how he had nearly fallen in battle. Somehow Mick had been able to dispose of three of the loathsome beasts already. He knew that Richard hadn't been having much luck either. But now he could see that Mick was heading over to help them – this battle would be over soon.
Mick couldn't help but resist grinning as he headed over to help Glenn. Now the tables were turned and the Moss giants were in fact the ones that were out-numbered. He raised his scimitar ready to strike and was surprised when his sword was met by a blue force-field that prevented him from lowering his scimitar any further. He pushed with all his might but the force-field stubbornly prevented him from attacking the giant. He growled his frustration as he sheathed his scimitar. It seemed that the gods of runescape had deemed this area as an area where creatures could only battle adventurers one at a time – which would explain why the extra two Moss giants had not acted when they should have. The holy magic of Saradomin bound them all and prevented them from doing so.
As he thought about the gods of runescape, something triggered inside Mick's head. If the magic of Saradomin was what had stopped him from attacking the Moss giant and had stopped him from attacking the Moss giant while Glenn was and had been blue then that would mean that Zamarok's colours would be the opposite which would mean that his favoured colour was red. Mick recalled the red glint that he had seen in the Moss giant's eyes and that was when he realized the truth. It was not just any ordinary wisp that was possessing the Moss giants but it was Zammarock himself! The different pieces of information that he had picked up before made sense now.
No other evil being but Zamarok would have been able to predict how the king and the palace guards would react once they discovered that giants had been rampaging through the city. It would also explain why the Moss giants were fighting so brilliantly and why they had been so difficult to kill – the magic of Zamarok had been surrounding them. As he was thinking this another realization struck Mick – the green bubbling liquid that he had seen before must have something to do with whatever Zamarok had planned for the realm of runescape. But the question was what did he have planned? The human hostages would also have something to do with it. The inscriptions on the wall that he had seen on his way here were demonic which could only mean one thing…the Moss giants had been planning on sacrificing the human hostages to Zamarok!
Mick's expression grew grim as he realized what a significant find that he had come across. This plot did not merely threaten the well-being of just the citizens of the town of Varrock but the whole realm of runescape. Now that he had discovered the plot there was something that Mick had to do to foil this plan – but he still had a task to complete. He unsheathed his scimitar as he walked over to the hostages. He could see them recoil in fear as he approached. He didn't blame then – he must have looked extremely fierce in his rune armour splattered with Moss giant blood.
"I am here to free you," explained Mick, beginning to cut the bonds of the first prisoner. "The Moss giants have fallen and you are now free to return to the town of Varrock."
"What about the zombies and other creatures that we passed on the way in?" asked one of the hostages.
"That won't be a problem," replied Mick. "My companions and I will see to it that you get out of this place alive."
"That's where you're wrong," said the hostages, all at once. Now that they had all been freed from their bonds they had a strange edge to their voice – one that gave Mick a very uneasy feeling. Mick slowly began to step back, making sure that his scimitar was firmly fitted in his hand. Something told him that the hostages would soon all turn hostile.
"You thought you saved us," groaned one of the hostages. "Instead you are our executioner." With that the hostages suddenly surged forward, fists raised and ready to attack. Mick looked helplessly at the onslaught of hostages that was running at him. He could now see the same red glint in their eyes that he had seen in the Moss giants. He felt a great sadness overwhelm him as the first hostage cam up to him and punched him and punched him in the chest. Mick didn't even feel the blow through his rune armour but retaliated with a vicious slash that be-headed the hostage and caused him to fall to the ground – his neck pumping out blood like a fountain.
By now the rest of the hostages had surrounded Mick in a circle – ready to attack. But it appeared as though they were waiting for something – but the question was what? Mick knew that he could kill all the hostages right here and now but he wanted to wait and see how things they developed. If there was one thing he had learnt about evil villains in his adventuring around the realm of runescape it was that they enjoyed gloating over their victims when they thought that they were assured of victory. This was usually their weakness and brought their downfall and Mick hoped that the same principle would apply here.
To Mick's astonishment an image of Zamarok himself appeared before him. Zamarok looked like a tall human that wore black armour – except that this armour had spikes protruding from it at random angles – giving him an intimidating look. The black two-handed sword that he rested on his shoulder had a red aura around it that pulsated with evil energy. In his other hand he held a red orb that appeared to be filled with a viscous green liquid.
"Well well Mick," laughed Zamarok. "It seems that you have stumbled across my little plan. Before you die – and I assure you that you will I just want you to know just how much of an impossible task it will be to stop me. You know you cannot kill me, but in order to stop me you will have to bind me. To this you will need to gather the three cornerstones of runescape – from the towns of Falador, Varrock, and Lumbridge and bring them to the field west of the Champion's guild. Once there you must defeat me in combat which no man or woman has ever accomplished before."
"I will defeat you," said Mick resolutely.
"Ah young adventuers," mused Zamarok. "So confident in the fullness of their youth. I grow tired of talking with you. Destroy him." Having said those words, the image of Zamarok disappeared and the hostages suddenly attacked. Mick didn't hesitate to attack this time – lashing out with his scimitar and killing all the hostages in a matter of seconds. The whole event had been a slaughterhouse. He knew that Zamarok would have known that a group of hostages would not be able to keep him down. There was an ulterior motive here. Then he remembered Zamarok's words You must defeat me in combat which no man or woman has ever accomplished. So that was Zamarok's plan. Zamarok planned to get Mick to summon him from his place in the underworld to the realm of runescape.
Once in runescape Zamarok would be free to unleash whatever horrors he had planned amongst the populations and nobody would be able to stop him short of Saradomin himself. And yet, Mick knew that if he didn't bring forth Zamarok from the underworld and defeat him then he knew that the realm of runescape would slowly tear itself apart. The presence of evil had been growing for some time and now that it was strong enough Zamarok even had the ability to possess groups of creatures at a time and force them to do his bidding. It would only be a matter of time before he would be able to control a whole town and force them to declare war on a neighbouring city.